Danica Patrick told to 'shut up and race' by driver David Gilliland

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Danica Patrick, the former Indy car driver turned NASCAR driver, receives a lot of attention, for her activities both on and off the track. Like Yahoo Sports, some might say the attention is “far out of proportion to her actual racing statistics.”

It’s not that she’s a bad driver. She’s not. But every little comment, every wrinkle in her love life garners far more attention than that of any other driver’s.

Case in point — according to USA Today, during the STP 400 in Kansas City over the weekend, she said to her team over the radio, “[David Gilliland] tries to take me out every time. Tell his spotter that I’m coming after him if he does it again. In fact, I might just do it right now.”

She didn’t make these comments to the press, or on Twitter or something. She made them to her team, over their radio headsets. But the comments were reported and now Gilliland has felt compelled to respond, saying via his spokesperson, “Shut up and race.”

The two drivers are pictured above at the STP 400, racing side by side. Danica is the green GoDaddy car, Gilliland is the yellow Long John Silver’s car. The next Sprint Cup race is the Toyota Owners 400 Saturday, April 27 in Richmond, VA.

Do you think Patrick was just making typical driver comments during a race? Did Gilliland have to respond?